Scientists are testing a dating app for orangutans

Since online dating has helped a lot of people find relationships and hookups, so why not let animals give it a spin?

Researchers at Apenheul primate park in the Netherlands are undergoing a "Tinder for orangutans" experiment, which is exactly what it sounds like. Samboja, an 11-year-old orangutan at the zoo, has been flipping through great apes on a touchscreen. Through this dating app of sorts, the lucky primate gets to choose her potential suitors from all over the world. And maybe we're just cynical, but it's one of the better uses for the internet that we've heard recently.

A lamb and a cat playing draughts, watched over by a bantam, at Langford, Somerset. (Photo by Fox Photos/Getty Images)

Dog Poppy and meerkat Timon in the bath at their home on July 14, 2011 in Dronfield, England. This meerkat and dog have been inseparable ever since four-year-old Timon was sent packing by his meerkat mob. The friendly animal found comfort in the arms of owner John Bent's dog, Poppy, and the unlikely pair have formed a mob of their own - which includes John, his wife, Sally, and their two children. You wouldn't expect a meerkat to be friends with a dog, explained hospice service manager Sally. They tend to stick very much to their own kind. The couple, from Dronfield in Derbyshire, has a collection of exotic critters, which started with a pair of skunks three years ago. Since then their menagerie has grown to include meerkats, raccoons, coatis and kinkajous. However, it is the relationship between six-year-old Chihuahua-Maltese Terrier cross Poppy and Timon, which is most surprising. The are inseparable, said John, who owns a surface coating company. Timon came into the house and instantly struck up a relationship with Poppy, who is just about as small a dog as you can get. Now they do everything together. They go for walks together and play together until they fall asleep on the sofa together. (Photo by Nick Obank / Barcroft Media / Getty Images)

Shere Khan the tiger, Leo the lion and Baloo the bear play outside at the Noah Ark Rehabilitation Centre in LOCUST GROVE, GA. Known as the BLT, or Bear, Lion and Tiger, these most unusual and unlikely animal friends are having to go on a diet after being spoilt too much. For not only do Baloo the bear, Leo the Lion, and Shere Khan the tiger have an unnatural bond, they also have a remarkable appetite too. Devouring almost 100 pounds worth of meat and vegetables a week between them, the rescued big beasts had developed something of an obesity problem. Staff at Noah's Ark Animal Rehabilitation Centre in the state of LOCUST GROVE, GA, decided to stop indulging their favoured guests and to put them on a diet after they each gained 100lbs. (Photo by Barcroft USA / Getty Images)

KATMAI NATIONAL PARK, AK - UNDATED: ***EXCLUSIVE***A female coastal brown bear and one-year old grey wolf relax together after fishing for salmon at the Hallo Bay estuary in the Katmai National Park, Alaska. In the seemingly most unlikely animal partnership ever this wild brown bear and grey wolf look just like they are fishing buddies. Showing a heartwarming moment when the pair - both wild -decided to forget their differences, the bizarre duo took an end-of-day break together just three feet apart. Both had spent hours trying to land a big catch during the first day of the annual salmon run in the remote Alaskan wilderness at Hallo Bay estuary, Katmai National Park. The pair - a 700lb female bear and one-year-old wolf - were both spotted by photographer Chris Dodds, 42, from Franklin Centre, Canada. He said: 'They were just three feet apart and they didn't seem the slightest bit worried about each other. It was very unusual. They looked just like a pair of fishing buddies and stayed together like that for at least two hours.' (Photo by Christopher Dodds / Barcroft Media / Getty Images)

Great Egret standing on the back of an alligator . (Photo by: Universal Education/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

Why go through the trouble of inventing a new technology when she could just meet a mate in real life and at a closer proximity? Apparently, dating is as hard for orangutans as it is for us, and widening the geographical scope of her search will help Samboja find the perfect match.

"Often, animals have to be taken back to the zoo they came from without mating," biologist Thomas Bionda told NOS. "Things don't always go well when a male and a female first meet."

Our only concern is that these poor creatures don't know what they're getting themselves into. Is there any way we can possibly prepare simians for the trials and tribulations of getting ghosted and dealing with creepy messages?

But given that zookeepers have also shown pandas porn to get them in the mood to save their species, we can't say we're too surprised at the orangutan online dating development. We wish Samboja the best of luck in her search for love, and respectfully ask her to share any tips that we could apply in our own lives should it work out for her.